Abstract: The North Atlantic right whale Critical Habitat in the Southeast U.S., digitized into ESRI shapefile GIS format from NOAA nautical charts.
Purpose: A vector representation of right whale critical habitat for use in GIS.
Supplemental Information: ----Spatial Reference Information-Horizontal Coordinate System Definition--Geographic: Geographic Coordinate Units= Decimal degrees;Geodetic Model:Datum Name = North American Datum of 1983;Ellipsoid Name = Geodetic Reference System 80;Semi-major Axis= 6378137;Denominator of Flattening Ratio= 298.257-----Prior to July 1, 2004, the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) was known as the Florida Marine Research Institute (FMRI). The institute name has not been changed in historical data sets or references to work completed by the Florida Marine Research Institute. The institute name has been changed in references to ongoing research, new research, and contact information.--

Progress: Complete
Update Frequency: None planned

Theme Keywords: FWRI Theme , whale , ISO 19115 Topic Category , biota , oceans , Operational Tiers , Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute , Wildlife Research , Marine Mammal Research , Right Whale Population Biology and Monitoring
Place Keywords: Atlantic Ocean , St. Johns River Water Management District , FWC Region-Northeast

Access Constraints: All data must be verified by Principal Investigator or Group Database Analyst prior to release. It is strongly recommended that this dataset is directly acquired from FWC and not indirectly through other sources which may have changed the data in some way. FWC makes no claims as to the data's suitability for other purposes.
Usage Constraints: Acknowledgement of the FWC-FWRI (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission-Fish and Wildlife Research Institute) as the data source would be appreciated in any products developed from these data, and such acknowledgment as is standard for citation and legal practices for data source is expected by users of this dataset. Please cite the original metadata when using portions of the record to create a similar record of slightly altered data, such as reprojection. If any data are modified or adjusted, please share the edited information with FWC. Users should be aware that comparison with other data sets for the same area from other time periods may be inaccurate due to inconsistencies resulting from changes in mapping conventions, data collection, and computer processes over time. FWC shall not be liable for improper or incorrect use of these data. These data are not legal documents and are not to be used as such.